SD-WAN: The Future of ISP Deployment Technology

Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a new and emerging technology that is being used by Internet Service Providers to deliver high-quality internet service which can be controlled and fine-tuned for optimal customer experience. By leveraging this unique and powerful technology, ISPs can scale operations quickly and more efficiently than ever before, resulting in more bandwidth, faster speeds, and less downtime for customers. Continue reading for a brief introduction to SD-WAN technology and why it matters to the average consumer.

What is SD-WAN?

As the name implies, SD-WAN is a software-defined networking scheme where critical infrastructure is virtualized as software instead of operating on traditional hardware. This framework leverages recent advancements in networking technologies such as virtual switches, software routing, and application firewalls. While physical hardware devices play these roles in traditional architecture layouts, having these functions virtualized means the ISP can gain instant scalability and redundancy in the event of a failure. Whereas an internet outage would be drawn out by hardware replacements in traditional networks, a new virtual switch or router can be spun up instantly and automatically if one goes down, resulting in downtime being measured in seconds rather than hours.

Similar to virtualized desktops and operating systems, these networking devices usually sit on virtual machine hosts that could contain dozens of appliances per box. With capital expenditure limited to VM hosts instead of a full network infrastructure, an ISP can cut costs significantly and pass those savings on to consumers. The one drawback of an SD-WAN layout is that it increases the amount of single points of failure throughout the network: If one VM host goes down, it may bring down several key pieces of infrastructure along with it.

What Are the Benefits of SD-WAN?

As mentioned above, SD-WAN networks can be scaled up or down instantly according to demand. This results in a network that does not become bogged down by sudden spikes of traffic, ensuring consistent speeds and latency for customers. Additionally, SD-WAN infrastructure can be recovered almost immediately in the event of an outage or degradation of service: If a VM containing a virtual switch becomes corrupted, for example, a new VM can be spun up and operating within minutes. In many ISP deployments, the monitoring of these devices is automated, and VMs can be spun up or down without any human interaction. By fine-tuning a software interface, an ISP can also give Quality of Service priority to certain types of traffic, such as streaming connections or P2P file downloads, resulting in an optimal customer experience when using these services.

What this means is that customers can begin to expect fast and reliable connections while browsing the internet. No more lag or slowdowns during peak hours, and fewer unexpected outages.

One key drawback of SD-WAN technology is that ISP surveillance can be scaled and refined along with the infrastructure. A consumer may think that as the ISP’s network expands, the ability to track and monitor behavior may become more difficult at scale, but this is not the case. The same VMs that provide additional speed and bandwidth will also have monitoring functions built-in, so as more VMs are spun up on demand, the same monitoring is still in place. For this reason, users are encouraged to implement mechanisms to protect their online privacy, such as a VPN.

In summary, many Internet Service Providers are blazing innovative trails by adopting Software-Defined Wide Area Network technology. By converting traditional network hardware to their software equivalents, ISPs can provide fast, consistent, and reliable service to their customers, resulting in a better online experience for all.